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The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

aramcoworld.com

11–20 of 91 posts

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of the Uzbek and Central Asian community is largely located in the Bay, NYC, and DMV. There are around 3 Uzbek restaurants in SF alone.

Theres Sofia (ex-Uzbek) and uzbegim, what’s the third one?

There used to be a third one a couple blocks away from Sofiya/Halal Dastarkhan in Tenderloin, but I think that may have shut down.

There also used to be 2 actual ethnic Uyghur restaurants (not Chinese from Xinjiang) in SF but they shut down as well.

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#12
post #9
post #3

My wife and I own a restaurant. It's a tough business. I feel like there must be more interest among native-born Americans in foreign food these days, based on the fact there's 3 Uzbek restaurants within a couple of neighboring cities (which are maybe 200k people total). There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL! And mostly concentrated over an hour's drive away from where these restaurants…

I guess if you're a migrant, an ethnic restaurant (is that term politically correct?) is one of the most obvious businesses you can start. The Thai government used to sponsor (not sure if they still do) Thai diaspora who want to open a restaurant in a foreign country, it was their way to market the country and attract tourists.

Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think.

Migrants move around to follow the work. (Think more like "Nomad") Immigrants resettle in new places.

I'm reading more about it, and probably these restaurants survive based on a combination of:

- Family run, keeping labor low (labor always number 1 cost)

- Central Asian and Muslim customers (much more than just Uzbeks)

- Setting up in low-rent locations like strip malls

So a few big nights a week can sustain the family business. I guess there's a way it adds up to a profitable business.

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#14
post #6

I spent about a year of my life in Uzbekistan. Food there is pure heaven

Yes. It is.

And instead of trying to replicate that - it's a learning experience, you learn the world trying that - some advocate for hideous inductive panels. If I were somewhat religious I would say that this is a blasphemy. An unforgivable sin.

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#15

My wife and I started something during Covid where we'd pick a random city in the world (there are websites that do this for you), look at the region's popular/common dishes and pick one to cook for the weekend. Most recent was Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area. We would also sometimes make flatbreads from the area but man is it messy to do in your…

> Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area.

That sounds good. Makes me think of hunkar begendi.

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#16
post #14
post #6

I spent about a year of my life in Uzbekistan. Food there is pure heaven

Yes. It is. And instead of trying to replicate that - it's a learning experience, you learn the world trying that - some advocate for hideous inductive panels. If I were somewhat religious I would say that this is a blasphemy. An unforgivable sin.

I did learn few things, everyone loves my Plov ;) No shortage of ingredients in Toronto and proper cookware.

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#18
post #3

My wife and I own a restaurant. It's a tough business. I feel like there must be more interest among native-born Americans in foreign food these days, based on the fact there's 3 Uzbek restaurants within a couple of neighboring cities (which are maybe 200k people total). There's apparently only ~2000 Uzbek-Americans in all of northern IL! And mostly concentrated over an hour's drive away from where these restaurants…

[deleted]

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#19
post #12
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess if you're a migrant, an ethnic restaurant (is that term politically correct?) is one of the most obvious businesses you can start. The Thai government used to sponsor (not sure if they still do) Thai diaspora who want to open a restaurant in a foreign country, it was their way to market the country and attract tourists.

Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think. Migrants move around to follow the work. (Think more like "Nomad") Immigrants resettle in new places. I'm reading more about it, and probably these restaurants survive based on a combination of: - Family run, keeping labor low (labor always number 1 cost) - Central Asian and Muslim customers (much more than just Uzbeks) - Setting up in low-rent locations like stri…

>Migrant is actually the wrong word entirely, I think.

immigrant, im- (variant of in-) ; migrant into your country

emigrant, ex- ; migrant out of your country

both are still migrants. there is no specific cause for migration required to be an migrant.

you just need to move somewhere new to live.

Re: The Fabled Flatbreads of Uzbekistan (2015)

#20

My wife and I started something during Covid where we'd pick a random city in the world (there are websites that do this for you), look at the region's popular/common dishes and pick one to cook for the weekend. Most recent was Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area. We would also sometimes make flatbreads from the area but man is it messy to do in your…

> Mirza Ghasemi: A smoked eggplant dish cooked with garlic, tomatoes, and eggs, from the Caspian Sea area. That sounds good. Makes me think of hunkar begendi.

everything's stew. everything's a variation of the 4 easiest ingredients for humans to cultivate plus one or two local or regional specials

garlic/onions: aliums that thrive in most climates

rice: grass that can be drowned (to fuck off pests)

eggs: per day, one chicken produces enough binding enzymes to thicken and modify a meal for 5-8 people

veg/seed oils: cooking, flavor, etc

and since that's in the caspian sea area, they also have a ready supply of tomatoes and eggplant from centuries of trading with asia

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